As incentives grow for healthcare organizations to improve the patient experience, an increasing number choose to add consumers directly into their leadership structures. In this final installment about the value of patient and family advisory councils, the senior director of quality at a large, Magnet®-recognized Texas hospital explains how tapping into a well-established Magnet culture helped the organization adopt innovative approaches that produced positive change. Based on an interview with the author, she notes that seeing basic issues through patients' eyes challenged long-held beliefs and led to improvements in a wide variety of areas...

Objective: analyse the evolution in the mission and vision of a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre in Nursing in Brazil in the context of the implementation of its terms of reference. Method: Historical-social documentary research with a qualitative approach. Results: During the 25 years of its activities as a Collaborating Centre, its mission to "promote and stimulate the development of nursing research in the region, with a focus on Latin America" triggered activities in the context of its terms of reference in four areas: Human Resource Formation for Research, Knowledge Production, Knowledge Dissemination, Encouragement of Exchange and Stimulus of Partnerships...

This article describes an innovative approach to enhancing the capacity of advanced practice clinicians (APCs) in a large faith-based health system consisting of multiple markets across the United States. With the challenges in health care today, promotion of advanced practice is vital to increasing quality and access to care while maintaining cost-effectiveness. The development of a national Advanced Practice Leadership Council led by the Vice President of Advanced Practice at Catholic Health Initiatives has been a progressive approach in mitigating the challenges facing APCs in today's health care arena...

Nursing executives are continually challenged to address a rapidly evolving health care system. Every aspect of care delivery is being scrutinized, yet the constant requirement remains assurance of high-quality, highly reliable care that is cost-effective and easily accessible. The nursing workforce remains visible in traditional roles as well as in new and innovative capacities, whereas nurse executives experience expanded realms of focus and responsibility. As health systems continue to adapt to the changing environment, the ability to leverage the role and scope of the advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) as a health care provider is emerging as an essential business and care strategy...

BACKGROUND: The latest outbreak of Ebola in West Africa overwhelmed the affected countries, with the impact on health extending far beyond Ebola-related deaths that have exceeded 11 000. The need to promptly mobilise resources to control emerging infections is widely recognized. Yet, data on research funding for emerging infections remains inadequately documented. METHODS: We defined research investment as all funding flows for Ebola and/or Marburg virus from 1997 to April 2015 whose primary purpose was to advance knowledge and new technologies to prevent or cure disease...

'These examples of nursing innovation from all corners of Yorkshire and the Humber truly demonstrate the breadth of nursing skill, experience and leadership across the region,' says RCN Yorkshire and the Humber regional director Glenn Turp. 'They speak volumes about the commitment and compassion of nurses and their dedication to patient care.'

BACKGROUND: Pressure ulcer prevention is a critical patient safety indicator for acute care hospitals. An innovative pressure ulcer prevention care bundle targeting patient participation in their care was recently tested in a cluster randomised trial in eight Australian hospitals. Understanding nurses' perspectives of such an intervention is imperative when interpreting results and translating evidence into practice. As part of a process evaluation for the main trial, this study assessed nurses' perceptions of the usefulness and impact of a pressure ulcer prevention care bundle intervention on clinical practice...

BACKGROUND: Comparative assessment of treatment results in paediatric hepatoblastoma trials has been hampered by small patient numbers and the use of multiple disparate staging systems by the four major trial groups. To address this challenge, we formed a global coalition, the Children's Hepatic tumors International Collaboration (CHIC), with the aim of creating a common approach to staging and risk stratification in this rare cancer. METHODS: The CHIC steering committee-consisting of leadership from the four major cooperative trial groups (the International Childhood Liver Tumours Strategy Group, Children's Oncology Group, the German Society for Paediatric Oncology and Haematology, and the Japanese Study Group for Paediatric Liver Tumours)-created a shared international database that includes comprehensive data from 1605 children treated in eight multicentre hepatoblastoma trials over 25 years...

PURPOSE: The Conquer Cancer Foundation (CCF), the philanthropic arm of ASCO, is responsible for funding innovative clinical research. CCF wants to broaden its donor base instead of relying predominantly on health-care companies. Our Leadership Development Program (LDP) group was tasked with identifying potential donor sources and making recommendations to increase funding. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We selected three sources to research: the general public, crowdsourcing/social media, and ASCO members...

Purpose There is an increasing interest in understanding how innovation processes can address current challenges in healthcare. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the wider socio-economic context and conditions for such innovation processes in the Stockholm region, using the functional dynamics approach to innovation systems (ISs). Design/methodology/approach The analysis is based on triangulation using data from 16 in-depth interviews, two workshops, and additional documents. Using the functional dynamics approach, critical structural and functional components of the healthcare IS were analyzed...

The American College of Surgeons (ACS) mandates that each verified trauma center must have an injury prevention coordinator (IPC); however, Chapter 18 in the Resources for Optimal Care of the Injured Patient (2014) provides minimal information on how to effectively lead or manage an injury prevention (IP) program. This opinion article addresses 3 fundamental components of an effective IP program: (1) construction of an innovative vision of IP programming using current technology; (2) intentional investment and involvement; and (3) stakeholder leadership, engagement, and sustainability...

BACKGROUND: Afghanistan lacks suitable specialized mental healthcare services despite high prevalence of severe mental health disorders which are aggravated by the conflict and numerous daily stressors. Recent studies have shown that Afghans with mental illness are not only deprived of care but are vulnerable in many other ways. Innovative participatory approaches to the design of mental healthcare policies and programs are needed in such challenging context. METHODS: We employed community based system dynamics to examine interactions between multiple factors and actors to examine the problem of persistently low service utilization for people with mental illness...

Innovative work behavior has been one of the essential attribute of high performing firms, and the roles of entrepreneurial orientation and self-leadership have been important for promoting innovative work behavior. This study advances research on innovative work behavior by examining the mediating role of self-leadership in the relationship between perceived entrepreneurial orientation and innovative work behavior. Structural equation modelling is employed to analyze data from a survey of 404 employees in banking sector...

PROBLEM: Training the next generation of health professionals requires leaders, innovators, and scholars in education. Although many medical schools and residencies offer education electives or tracks focused on developing teaching skills, these programs often omit educational innovation, scholarship, and leadership and are narrowly targeted to one level of learner. INTERVENTION: The University of California San Francisco created the Health Professions Education Pathway for medical students, residents, and fellows as well as learners from other health professional schools...

PROBLEM: Leadership is increasingly recognized as a core physician competency required for quality patient care, continual system improvement, and optimal healthcare team performance. Consequently, integration of leadership into medical school curriculum is becoming a priority. This raises the question of the appropriate context, timing, and pedagogy for conveying this competency to medical students. INTERVENTION: Our program introduced a 1-week leadership course grounded in business pedagogy to Year 1 medical students...